Where Innovation Meets Imagination
Emerging robotics startups now have a space to call their own in Massachusetts.
MassRobotics, an independent, non-profit hub serving to inspire and bring robotics startups, initiatives and investments to life, is opening its initial office, laboratory and test space.
The collaborative workspace includes the labs and equipment needed to help young robotics companies develop and scale their concepts and prototypes. [Read more…] about MassRobotics opens shared robotics innovation space
Adrian Swindells, director of industrial computing specialist Distec, explores how businesses can keep the cost of IoT implementation to a minimum
One of the biggest bugbears of plant managers is the cost of upgrading or replacing devices and equipment.
While this has traditionally only occurred due to a breakage, the rise of the internet of things has driven a need for cross-compatible equipment – in most cases calling for the costly replacement of legacy systems to ensure communication.
Whether you think of it as industry 4.0 or the IoT, the concept of machine to machine internetworking is undeniably the most talked about technological development of recent times.
In fact, forecasts have predicted the market for the IoT to be worth $14.4 trillion by 2022. [Read more…] about Keeping costs down: The lion’s share of IoT communication
Automation is about to do away with millions of jobs. A business psychologist claims he has at least some of the answers
The good news is that the job you hate is about to be automated. The bad news is that you’re about to be out of work.
“Jobs that cannot be automated are on a very short list,” says Robert Pasick, PhD, an executive coach and organizational psychologist who also teaches at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. “If you are afraid to leave the job you hate, it may be about to leave you.”
Journalists fear computers that are already writing news stories. Truck drivers fear self-driving trucks, already carrying freight in controlled experiments. Accounting, lawyering, health care, package delivery, even Uber driver jobs are on the verge of automation. [Read more…] about Self-awareness is the key to career survival as jobs get automated, says business psychologist
New journal to be jointly published with the International Federation of Automatic Control
Elsevier, a provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and solutions, and the International Federation of Automatic Control have launched a new joint publication, IFAC Journal of Systems and Control.
The journal will publish research papers on generalizable, extensible and transferable innovations across all aspects of the field of control and automation.
The journal’s remit broadly reflects the areas of interest of IFAC’s Technical Board and dovetails with the other IFAC journals in seeking new areas of application and investigation for systems and control. [Read more…] about Elsevier launches new journal about systems and control
Despite headwinds in the global economy, internationalisation will continue to drive the growth of companies in the engineering consultancy sector as infrastructure demand remains strong globally.
Meinhardt Group, a global engineering, planning and management firm, is working closely with International Enterprise Singapore, the government agency partnering Singapore companies in going global, on its expansion strategy to Africa and the Middle East.
This includes the company’s recent acquisition of African engineering consultancy to gain in-roads into East Africa. [Read more…] about Meinhardt partners with International Enterprise Singapore to expand into Africa and Middle East
Nature.com: Blueprint outlines ambitious scheme to solve uncrackable problems using existing technology.
Resistor liquid cooling boosts 3.3kV medium voltage loads, and slashes resistor footprint in industrial and marine applications, as David Atkins, projects director at Cressall Resistors explains
In motor driven applications like cranes, lifts, hoists and conveyors, air cooled resistors are common, but in medium voltage, high power applications liquid cooling wins out.
A medium voltage drive running off a 3.3kV supply to turn a 500kW motor will put a severe heating load on the application’s power transistors – hence the need for water cooling.
The new EV2 advanced water cooled modular resistor range for low and medium voltage applications is especially designed to function in severe environments, like the ones marine systems have to function in.
This patented design encapsulates and completely separates the resistor elements from the coolant. [Read more…] about Rough seas: Resistors for severe environments
Sci-news.com: Geologists at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg have confirmed that a small piece of the ancient continent Mauritia has been found beneath modern-day Mauritius.
How do you make sure that a product can handle the wear and tear of an expected life cycle and that all safety and quality standards are met?
You test it. Over and over again.
Nothing is more repetitive than product testing – lending itself to one of the “3D jobs” that robots excel at: dirty, dangerous… and dull.
Increasingly, collaborative robots – or cobots – are now being used for product testing. This type of automation is maximizing the testing environment, improving employee productivity and happiness, benefiting the bottom line while allowing companies to bring products to market much faster than ever before. [Read more…] about Product testing: There’s a collaborative industrial robot for that
Nick Boughton, sales manager at Boulting Technology, discusses best practice for obsolescence management from a systems integrator point of view
The control system in a factory is what a motor is to a car, and when something is amiss, the systems integrator will analyse, design, fit and test, to make sure the system is better than ever and raring to go. However, there’s a topic that we’re finding crops up time and again.
The debate between upgrade vs repair is by no means a new one, but it has become prevalent as most industries look to squeeze margins. Certain sectors have long had to carefully manage obsolescence due to their delicate nature.
For example, pharmaceuticals manufacturing is well known for being heavily regulated and so sourcing spare parts instead of committing to a systems upgrade generally means saving time, money and a whole lot of paperwork. [Read more…] about Dealing with legacy systems in industry
